Fuller's Vintage Ale 2017, Fullers

Added: Wednesday, November 1st 2017

Style

Old Ale

ABV 8.5%

Fuller’s Vintage Ale 2017 is the 21st edition of the limited edition beer and is the first to be created by new head brewer Georgina Young. She has used a malt and hop combination never before used in a Fuller’s beer.

“Two years ago, working with head brewer John Keeling, I was lucky enough to visit Yakima in Washington State, where I was introduced to an experimental hop variety now known as Denali,” she says.

“Denali has a big, inviting aroma that imparts pineapple, citrus and pine notes – perfect for bringing a gentle tropical touch to the Vintage Ale series. It’s been used here both late in the boil and for dry hopping, dovetailing with classic British hop varieties Target and Goldings,”

Georgina Young has also used a new malting barley, a British grain called Laureate.

“New varieties don’t come along very often,” she says,” so I thought it fitting to use one this year alongside our new American hop, which has been embraced by growers, brewers and distillers alike.”

The 8.5% bottle-conditioned beer has a bright tawny colour. Peppery and spicy hops blend with rich fruit – pithy tangerine to the fore – with notes of Dundee cake and freshly-peeled nuts along with toasted malt. Big fruity flavours dominate the palate: citrus with darker sultana emerging, with continuing notes of cake, marzipan, nuts, ripe malt and peppery hops. The finish is long and complex, bittersweet to start with malt, fruit and hops interweaving and leading to a dry, fruity and hoppy finale.

This is a beer that will age and improve and is likely to develop greater depth of aroma and flavour after a few years in the cellar.